Alison Gertz, Crusader On Aids In Heterosexuals

August 09, 1992|By New York Times News Service.

Alison L. Gertz, who contracted AIDS in a single encounter with a man at the age of 16 and drew international attention by telling her story as a warning to heterosexuals, women and teenagers, died Saturday afternoon at her family`s summer home in Westhampton Beach, N.Y.

She was 26, and lived in New York City. Her parents, Jerrold and Carol Gertz, said she died of AIDS.

When Ms. Gertz first publicly told her story, in an interview with The New York Times in 1989, the AIDS epidemic was widely perceived as confined to homosexual men, intravenous drug abusers, and blood-transfusion recipients.

She fit none of those categories. Her story was all the more dramatic because of the privilege she was born into, with artistic talent, affluence, private schools and social prominence.

Ms. Gertz became a crusader, speaking at schools, colleges and public events. She appeared on the cover of People magazine, Esquire named her woman of the year, and her story was printed overseas.

Her many television appearances included ``20/20,`` ``Good Morning America,`` ``Sally Jessy Raphael`` and ``Joan Rivers.`` A film she recorded for the World Health Organization was first shown at the United Nations on World AIDS Day in 1989 and since has been shown internationally.

Molly Ringwald portrayed her in ``Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story,`` a two-hour ABC network special that was broadcast March 29.

Dr. Louis Sullivan, the U.S. secretary of health and human services, has praised the ABC movie and said that Ms. Gertz delivered ``a powerful message to all Americans about the realities of AIDS.``

An only child, Ms. Gertz was born in Manhattan and grew up on Park Avenue. Educated at Horace Mann School, Ms. Gertz studied art at Parsons School of Design. At 22, she was beginning a career as an illustrator.

But she began suffering puzzling ailments that eluded treatment. Finally, in 1988, she checked into Lenox Hill Hospital for tests. The ultimate diagnosis was AIDS.

With medication, Ms. Gertz recovered from her initial illness and started on her mission.